DOWNTOWN ARENA Bill allows for extension

The city would have until September 2007 to finish the project under the bill.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Even though in all likelihood it won't need it, the city's downtown arena project would receive more time for completion under a bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The city had until late 2005 to spend the $26.8 million in federal funding it received for the project.
If the project's funds weren't spent by then, there was a possibility that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency that awarded the grant, could have cut off funding, said Mayor George M. McKelvey.
The project is ahead of schedule, and didn't have anything to worry about, he said. But it's always good to have breathing room if it's needed, McKelvey said.
DeWine, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the committee approved language to extend the time the city has to use the federal funds to Sept. 30, 2007, in its appropriations bill to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and HUD.
Looking ahead
The bill must go to the full Senate for approval, then to a joint House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences in the bills approved by both legislative bodies, and finally be signed into law by the president, said Mike Dawson, a DeWine spokesman. There is no date scheduled for a full Senate vote on the matter, he said.
"When I spoke to the senators [DeWine and George V. Voinovich] several months ago, it was one of those things that we didn't know if we would need," McKelvey said.
He doesn't believe the city will need the additional time, but the mayor said it's prudent to extend the time line.
"If something happens to delay it, this gives us some extra time," he said. "Most, if not all, construction projects are delayed. I don't expect that we'll have to use the extension, but it's comforting to know we'll probably have it."
skolnick@vindy.com